Stay
by Dreamincolor
Summary: Heroes need one another. Cordelia/Angel fuzzies.


**Title:** Stay  
**Author:** walkwithheros  
**Pairing:** Angel/Cordy  
**Rating:** PG  
**Word Count:** 741  
**Disclaimer:** Joss wins.

* * *

A hundred years ago Angel would have said that this moment was perfect, for the same reasons that it now seemed flawed.

The sky was moonless, and the street lamps were few and far between. The woman at his side could barely see the apartment door front of her, and her breathing was heavy with pain. Cordelia's arm was curled in close to her chest where it was bleeding profusely; a jagged cut slanting from her shoulder to elbow, trickling blood down her inner arm onto her once white shirt.

A hundred years ago, nothing would have been more appealing than the opportunity - on a lightless street in downtown LA - to take complete advantage of a vulnerable, gorgeous little thing like Cordelia.

Her key slid into the lock, and twisted as she nudged the door open - the scent of her blood heavy as she brushed past him. Taking in an unneeded breath, he could taste it on the air.

The taste left him in a mutter "Do you want me to-"

"Yes."

He followed her inside, closing the door behind him.

A hundred years ago, Angel would have had his game face on by now, yellow eyes following her every motion. Something low in his stomach would have been clenching as he watched her move blindly - helplessly - about in the darkness, till her body, beaded with sweat, slumped back against the wall with exhaust.

As it was, his brow only furrowed with concern.

"Dennis," her voice flitted through the silence, "light please."

The kitchen light flickered to life, illuminating a counter left in disarray. The sink - piled high with dirty dishes and lingering bubbles - told him what she'd been doing when the vision hit, and that the shattered glass on the tile floor had probably once been a dish.

His hand touched her shoulder, "Advil?"

"Yes."

When he returned, arms filled with bandages and painkillers, she'd seated herself at the kitchen table, head in her hands and blood still trickling down her arm.

Three years go, there was no doubt in his mind that Queen C would have been throwing a grade A fit. As it was, Cordelia only smiled, hands picking through what he had grabbed, "Ease up on the furrowed brow Tiger, I'm fine. Minus the ridiculous headache."

"From the vision?" It had been over an hour, and something in his brain was nagging that the headache should be gone by now.

"It was a particularly fun one, kind of like the demon it led us to." Several pills passed her lips, and she'd begun to break out the first aid materials, straining her head to touch a cotton ball to the wound's edge gingerly.

His thumb brushed over her cheek, tucking stray hairs behind her ear "Want help?"

Brown eyes looked up at him for a moment, studying his face through dark lashes; then a smaller, much more genuine smile, "Please."

The smell of antiseptic assaulted his senses as he sat, dabbing and disinfecting and bandaging. He could feel the rhythmic, faint warmth of her breath on his chest as he at leaned towards her, hands working mechanically.

In their line of work, the amount of nursing they did was second only to the amount of fighting, if even.

At some point she had stopped watching his motions and her forehead had fallen to rest on his shoulder, her hair tickling his cheek. As he finished tying the last bandage and released her arm, he was surprised to feel her nestle closer into the crook of his neck.

Instinctively, his arms surrounded her. He could hear her heartbeat against him - tellingly quick for such a quiet embrace - and feel her breath against his skin.

And he was sure that if he'd had a pulse, it would have been racing.

They sat that way for a long time in silence; but eventually it was her voice that vanquished the quiet, beating in a soft breath on his collar bone, "Angel?"

He could feel her body press closer against his, and something inside him clenched in a way that reminded keenly of the childhood butterflies - a sensation he had long believed he was no longer capable of. "Hmm?"

There was a quiet, but strikingly passionate tone to her voice, her face lifting from his shoulder to look up at him with smiling eyes "Stay with me?"

He thought she'd never ask.

* * *


End file.
